1/2 Ton Towable 5th Wheel
Hello: Does anyone have a 5th wheel that they say can be towed by a 1/2 ton truck? Are you actually towing it with a 1/2 ton truck and what kind of truck do you have? I had originally thought t...
Forum Discussion
BillyBob Jim wrote:
RV board nonsense.
OP, look at Rockwood / Flagstaff, Grand Design Reflection 150 series, Winnebagos Micro Mini series, etc.
Don't buy into the RV forum gibberish.
Perfect example, lets look closer at Grand Design line for example sake. The absolute smallest 22' model (now out of production) has a brochure dry weight of 6700lbs with 1130lbs pin weight. Now we all know those advertised weights don't include options, propane, batteries etc and usually come in several hundred pounds higher in actual weight. Lets go with 7k as delivered for example sake.
The brochure shows a pin weight of approximately 17 percent so keeping with that, the empty fiver pins at 1190lbs. A nice couple, very lightly packed, will easily add 500lbs of "stuff" so we are now 7500lbs and 1275lbs. Add in 75lbs for the lightest possible Andersen hitch and you've added 1350lbs to the truck and mostly the rear axle. Plenty left for 2 passengers with the OPs 1700lbs rating. Sounds good right?
Not so fast. Most storage in a fiver is up front, well ahead of the axles. Want to take water in the tanks? Also over or ahead of the axles. These additions usually give fivers a pin weight between 20 and 25 percent of loaded weight. Even at the lowest end of that range, and packed as light as possible, you'd be a minimum of 1500lbs on the pin, plus the hitch, which only leaves enough payload for 1 super skinny driver and nothing else in the truck. You may have a couple hundred pounds to spare before maxing on axle weights.
As a previous poster mentioned, they could tow this fiver within ratings. They have a rare F150 with the HD payload option. It is not your standard half ton. That one rarity is what allows the manufacturers to get away with advertising "1/2 ton towable". There are always exceptions to the rule but sadly most get burned by the gimmicks.
